Practical Security Tips, News & Advice.

As children go back to school for the new school year, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, in collaboration with the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), released a report detailing new data about the rise of gunfire on school grounds and solutions to prevent school shootings and keep students and educators safe.

During the 2021-2022 school year, there were 193 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, nearly four times the average during these months in all other years and the highest number of incidents since Everytown began tracking these trends in 2013.

The report includes a comprehensive plan to help prevent mass shooting incidents and gun violence in American schools. The report also discusses practices that can harm and traumatize students. 

“For far too long, gun violence has been a dangerous reality in the daily lives of students and educators—from constant ‘lock down’ drills, to the unspeakable trauma that our communities experience in the aftermath of a shooting,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association. “While extreme politicians try to distract us until the next tragedy, parents, students, and educators are demanding real solutions and action. We’re proud to be a part of this report that provides real solutions that will make our schools the safest place in any community.”

“There are no panaceas, but the recommendations in this report include smart strategies and measurable actions we can take to protect students and staff, without deploying bad ideas like arming teachers or turning schools into hi-tech prisons,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “Together, with parents and caregivers, teachers and school staff, the AFT will continue to push for solutions and work to ensure schools are safe and welcoming places where educators want to work, parents want to send their kids, and students can truly thrive.”

Gunfire on school grounds data tracked by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that between August 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022, there were 193 incidents of gunfire at preschools and K–12 schools that left 59 people shot and killed and 138 people shot and wounded. At least six in 10 of the victims killed and four in 10 of the victims wounded were current or former students of the school where the gunfire occurred. 

ALSO READ: Preventing Workplace Violence Through Situational Awareness

According to the report, these findings also confirm four trends about school gun violence—those discharging guns on school grounds often have a connection to the school; guns used in incidents generally come from the home, family, or friends; shooters nearly always exhibit warning signs; and gun violence in American schools has a disproportionate impact on students of color. 

Key recommendations of the report to prevent gun violence in schools include:

The full report, “How To Stop Shootings and Gun Violence in Schools: A Plan to Keep Students Safe,” is available here.

Download this free report to learn seven steps to protect your facility from workplace violence.

This report is sponsored by the Total Security Summit, an event specifically organized for VPs, Directors, and Managers of Security who are directly concerned with their facility’s security and safety operations.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) announced a major milestone in its SIA OSDP Verified initiative – that over 100 device models have been named OSDP Verified through the comprehensive program, which validates device conformance to the SIA Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) standard. SIA OSDP standard is an access control communications protocol standard maintained by SIA to improve interoperability, add […]

GXO Logistics, Inc., the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, announced that it has deployed advanced air and ground security robotics at one of its major distribution centers in Clayton, Ind., and plans to significantly increase deployment of automated security systems across other sites within the next year. This would be the largest air and […]

The Security Industry Association (SIA) is pleased to announce the first members of its Utilities Advisory Board Steering Committee. SIA created the Utilities Advisory Board to offer insight and education to security practitioners, members of the security industry and other stakeholders about emerging security trends, regulatory compliance issues, and recommended practices for protecting utility infrastructure. The steering committee members, […]

SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Alice DiSanto the 2022 recipient of the SIA Committee Chair of the Year Award, which recognizes individuals for excellence in leading SIA committees and advancing member objectives. SIA will present DiSanto with the award at The Advance, SIA’s annual membership meeting, which will be held March 22 during […]

 ISC West, in collaboration with premier sponsor Security Industry Association (SIA), continues to experience steady growth for the upcoming event, and will be taking place just less than two months away on March 22-25, 2022 at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas (SIA Education@ISC: March 22-24 | Exhibit Hall: March 23-25). After initial reports of […]

Our world is full of threats both external and internal. This whitepaper encourages looking at life safety and security measures on your campus from another perspective. Most facilities have addressed access control and the securing of main doors, but those should be measures of last resort. There are steps you can take — some that you may not have considered — to mitigate the threat before it arrives at your front door.

The 2019 Total Security Salary Guide is here to help physical and technical security employers and employees understand where they stand in today’s security job market. This Salary Guide includes not only salary and wage data from 2017 to 2018, but also certification information as it applies to 20 benchmarked exempt and nonexempt security positions.

A proliferation of cameras has resulted in an overwhelming amount of video available to security operators, analysts and investigators. Technology that used to be prohibitively priced, is now cheap and readily accessible.

Learn how to protect your people, assets and physical spaces better with AI-powered solutions that deliver whole-building security.